HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Huntsville parents who want majority-to-minority transfers for their children will have more time to make that request.

Superintendent Casey Wardynski (File photo)

Superintendent Casey Wardynski told AL.com this afternoon that the deadline for parents to request a majority-to-minority transfer for the 2013-2014 school year will be extended to Aug. 8. The school year begins Aug. 5.

Parents were initially given from May 7 to May 31 to apply for the transfers, which are granted to students wishing to leave a school in which they are part of the racial majority and attend one where they are part of the minority. The time frame for the transfers, which are allowed under the district's 1970 desegregation order, was a change in policy.

The district previously allowed parents to request the transfers year-round.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala, the federal judge overseeing the district's desegregation case, asked in court last week if the district would be willing to extend its deadline. She said the short notice after the change in timeframe – along with changing the formerly paper-based application process to an online one – was inadequate and could have caused confusion among parents.